AliveCor has announced a collaboration with Mayo Clinic to develop tools for medical and non-medical personnel to easily screen for long QT syndrome (LQTS) early by combining AliveCor’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology with Mayo’s patented algorithms.
Through this collaboration, new methods and techniques to detect LQTS will be developed for AliveCor’s Kardia portable mobile device. The collaboration, according to the company, envisions a tool will enable people to practice preventive medicine on an unprecedented scale and provide instantaneous results previously unavailable unless patients visited a doctor’s office.
“To prevent this type of sudden death, increased awareness and screening is critical. AliveCor’s patented artificial intelligence technology, algorithms and millions of ECGs, paired with Mayo Clinic’s extensive data and world-leading clinical expertise will mean enhanced safety and decreased risk for many,” says Vic Gundotra, CEO, AliveCor. “This new technology could one day allow pharmacists, coaches and others to actively screen for and prevent sudden cardiac deaths.”
AliveCor provides the first consumer-ready, clinically validated and FDA-cleared ECG to give patients a more complete view of their heart health, improve proactive monitoring and create a new standard of cardiac care. The ECG holds a vast amount of information about a person’s overall health and applies machine learning to millions of ECG recordings as an important enhancement to the traditional ECG analysis.
“This agreement makes our vision of universal screening for the early detection of long QT syndrome—a potentially lethal, yet highly treatable condition—one step closer to reality. The electrical heart cycle is emerging as the next vital sign. With very few exceptions, we now know that a prolonged cycle—whether caused by genetics, drugs, electrolyte disturbances or by other diseases—indicates increased risk for early death,” says Michael J Ackerman, director of Mayo Clinic’s Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. “Any of these deaths could be averted with simple preventive and/or counteractive measures.”
The investment from Mayo adds to the recent infusion of $30 million of capital AliveCor received in spring of 2017 and will accelerate innovations in heart health and continue the rapid expansion of the business.
Mayo Clinic and Ackerman have a financial interest in the technology referenced in this news release. Mayo Clinic will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.
Cardiac Rhythm News speaks to Ackerman in more detail about this partnership:
What is the rationale to develop this technology with AliveCor?
For approximately one year now, Mayo Clinic has worked with AliveCor regarding non-invasive potassium monitoring. In working with them in this context, it became abundantly clear that they and their Kardia device represented the perfect combination to try to advance our notion of monitoring the QT interval as the next vital sign.
What kind of patients will potentially benefit from using this technology?
Development of an accurate QT meter from their Kardia device would potentially enable universal screening for LQTS, which is a potentially lethal but highly treatable genetic heart disease; and for monitoring of patients on any of the 100+ medications with known QT prolonging potential.
Could you explain in more detail how does Mayo Clinic participate in this collaboration with AliveCor?
Mayo Clinic is providing over a million ECGs to help train AliveCor’s artificial intelligence to become QT smarter/better including ECGs from over 1,000 patients with genetically-established LQTS. In addition, Mayo Clinic will lead the clinical trials using their second generation Kardia device to create a built-in QT monitoring system. This is part of the larger effort to apply artificial intelligence to our rich digital data stores to advance clinical medicine.
When is the technology expected to be available for patients and practitioners?
Always difficult to predict but we anticipate that the significant clinical studies will be completed in the next one to two years with application for FDA approval to follow shortly thereafter.
